Press Release
26 September 2016
For immediate release
Staffordshire company enables Midlands based charities to top £1million in Big Lottery grants
Staffordshire based Wider Impact Consultancy has been credited with supporting Midlands based charities in achieving over £1million Big Lottery continuation funding following independent evaluations carried out by Wider Impact of existing and previous Big Lottery funded projects and initiatives.
As a result hundreds of disadvantaged people and groups are accessing services and support that would otherwise have been beyond their reach or almost impossible to come by. This includes people suffering from life changing head injuries, disadvantaged parents, women fleeing domestic violence and refugees fleeing persecution and intimidation.
Established at Staffordshire University over 11 years ago, Wider Impact specialises in supporting UK based charities and other third sector organisations enhance and improve their service delivery. Such support includes feasibility studies, service reviews and independent evaluations of projects such as those supported by the Big Lottery.
In three recent cases, three Midland based charities, Oldbury based Single Point, Headway Black Country and Blackheath based Loaves N Fishes have collectively been awarded over £1million continuation funding following submission of favourable independent evaluation reports completed by Wider Impact.
Such reports include an assessment of quantitative outcomes achieved by the projects, such as numbers of service users supported, and qualitative results, such as how the funding has actually changed peoples’ lives. Based on years of experience Wider Impact particularly specialises in including a series of recommendations, aimed at the sustainable futures of the charities involved, which is a key ingredient in supporting such impressive continuation funding by the Big Lottery.
Stephen Phipps, Chief Officer Headway Black Country says, ‘Wider Impact Consultancy supported Headway Black Country to produce a thorough, robust evaluation of a Lottery Funded project that was coming to a close in 2016.
It was important for us to produce the evaluation ourselves but we needed help to do that. We engaged Wider Impact to act as a critical friend, advising on robust approaches to the evaluation and independently gathering evidence, in a structured way, from a wide range of stakeholders. This enabled a transfer of key skills to the charity, ensured that stakeholder evidence was robust and enabled us to achieve our deadline.
The evaluation has also supported our successful bid for further Lottery Funding and is a key part of the evidence being used to develop our new business plan. Wider Impact quickly grasped what we wanted to achieve, provided timely and relevant advice, achieved high quality stakeholder feedback and kept us on track; demonstrating extensive knowledge, professionalism and adaptability throughout.’
Steve Baylis, Head of Development, Archdiocese of Birmingham says, ‘I have been working with Edwin from Wider Impact for the last 6 plus years and during this time he has undertaken a number of strategic organisational evaluations and reviews and interim project reviews for me. All of the work completed has been to a high standard and was completed within budget and was delivered to agreed timescales. The most recent programme review was used to successfully secure over £320,000 in continuation funding from the Reaching Community’s Programme (BIG).
Project evaluations have been to an extremely high standard with pertinent information backed up by sound research techniques. I have no hesitation in recommending Edwin and Wider Impact for any form of programme or project evaluation’.
Edwin Lewis, Director, Wider Impact Consultancy says, ‘It has been a pleasure and a privilege to support so many worthy and important projects and initiatives, and to be aware that we have played some part in their successes. A millions pounds worth of funding is extremely significant and will play a massive role in supporting the most at risk people living in our local communities.
All of those involved in the development and delivery of such projects should feel proud and deserve the biggest praise and acknowledgments for the support they provide to people most in need. The Lottery is an amazing funding initiative, and all at Wider Impact will continue to aim to ensure our local charities and other third sector organisations continue to reap such welcome funding and support’.
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Further information:
Continuation grants details:
Single Point (see – www.singlepoint.org.uk/ ) awarded £497,121
Headway Black Country (see – http://www.headwayblackcountry.co.uk/ ) awarded £375,000
Loaves N Fishes (see – http://loavesnfishes.co.uk/) awarded £312,542
A recent evaluation by Wider Impact of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s Youth Engagement Project has also been praised for its high quality – see http://www.widerimpact.com/september-2016-wider-impact-praised-staffordshire-wildlife-trust-delivery-independent-evaluation-report
Edwin Lewis, Founder and Director, Wider Impact Consultancy
Tel: 0845 165 780 / 07871 179 780
Email: edwin@widerimpact.com
Web: www.widerimpact.com
